Music

Patti Smith Looks Back On Life Before She Became The Godmother Of Punk

1:29pm October 23, 2015

The singer joins Fresh Air for a conversation about her career and her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Smith's new memoir is M Train. Originally broadcast in 1996 and 2010.

Queue Listen Now

Kode9's new album, Nothing, comes out Nov. 13.

Music & Culture

Songs We Love: Kode9, 'Vacuum Packed'

12:56pm October 23, 2015

by Piotr Orlov

Following the death of longtime collaborator The Spaceape, producer Steve Goodman goes avant-garde, mixing jazz piano, minimalist organ lines, and footwork beats.

Music & Culture

Elvis Costello Tells The Stories Behind The Songs

12:32pm October 23, 2015

Costello joins World Cafe to discuss his new memoir, Unfaithful Music And Disappearing Ink.

Music & Culture

The Arcs On World Cafe

12:23pm October 23, 2015

Hear why Dan Auerbach calls his new band's music "weird" in a set recorded live in the studio.

Music & Culture

Kyle Eastwood On Piano Jazz

12:10pm October 23, 2015

Hear a 1999 session with the bassist, who's since had a prolific career as a film and TV composer.

Music & Culture

Beauty Pill: Tiny Desk Concert

9:03am October 23, 2015

by Lars Gotrich

In Beauty Pill's music, life whirs with plunderphonic glee and riffs are funky from the inside out. Watch the D.C. band adapt its deeply textured songs without removing anything vital.

Timmy Thomas performs on the television show The Midnight Special in 1973.

Music & Culture

Midnight In The Drum Machine Of Good And Evil

6:51pm October 22, 2015

by Dave Tompkins

Timmy Thomas' "Why Can't We Live Together," Drake's (and Badu's) "Hotline Bling" and how presets become patterns become history.

Outside the Village Vanguard in New York.

Music & Culture

Why Everyone Wants To Record 'Live At The Village Vanguard'

6:07pm October 22, 2015

Bassist Christian McBride says that making his own album at the storied jazz club was like becoming part of a family. He knew: "We'd better bring it harder than we've brought it anywhere else before."

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Arturo O'Farrill leads the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra in concert.

Music & Culture

Arturo O'Farrill Presents 'Cuba: The Conversation Continues'

5:39pm October 22, 2015

An economic blockade between the U.S. and Cuba didn't prevent jazz from traveling between the countries. But what if the dialogue could flow freely? The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra wanted to find out.

'Big Pimpin' Is No Longer Big Litigatin': Suit Against Jay Z Dismissed

4:36pm October 22, 2015

A judge dismissed a copyright infringement lawsuit brought against Jay Z and Timbaland over their 1999 hit, "Big Pimpin'." The judge ruled that there was no standing to pursue the claim.